Jeong Cheol-won (24, Doosan), who appeared like a comet around this time last year and has been running without rest, is receiving special management from director Lee Seung-yeop.
Doosan coach Lee Seung-yeop, whom we met at the Jamsil KIA match on the 13th, revealed the plan for stamina for setup man Jeong Cheol-won. Coach Lee said, “Actually, Jung Cheol-won was overdoing it. He repeated, “It feels like the number of innings pitched compared to the number of games. I guess I must be tired. The time has come for him to make adjustments,” he said.메이저놀이터
Jeong Cheol-won, who was selected in the 2nd round of the 2nd Doosan Draft in the 2018 rookie draft, debuted in the first team in May of last year after serving in the active military. Under any circumstances, he landed a spot in the winning group in a short period of time by throwing stone fastballs over 150 km into the middle, which led to a new record for the most holds (23 holds) in his debut season. Thanks to this, Jeong Cheol-won was honored with the Rookie of the Year award for the only time in his life at the KBO Awards.
Last year, Jung Cheol-won was so-called ‘Kim Tae-hyung’s man’, and his debut season was colorless, and he played 72⅔ innings. He was called in every match and close game situation, and was named the third most inning relief pitcher after KT Kim Min-soo (80⅔ innings) and Doosan Kim Myung-shin (79⅔ innings). As a result, he was once at the center of the controversy over overuse in the second half, and he received a lot of concern about his injury.
Cheol-Won Jeong was labeled an overworker even when he boarded the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) national team. He, along with Kim Won-joong and Won Tae-in, established himself as Lee Kang-cheol-ho’s ‘Anycall’ and had to play as many as five games a week. This was the reason why there was a prospect that he would suffer from physical overload in the 2023 season and a 2nd year jinx.
Jeong Cheol-won during the national team / OSEN DB
Jeong Cheol-won’s performance this season was 18 matches, 3 wins, 1 loss, 5 holds, and an average ERA of 2.79. He has a decent record, but his earned run average soars to 6.35 if you limit the period to the last 7 games. At the end of April, there were signs of physical overload, and on the 12th, against Jamsil KIA, he could not fully take responsibility for one inning with 1 hit (1 home run), 1 walk and 1 run in ⅔ innings. Neither restraint nor pitching was what Jeong Cheol-won was last year. As of the 14th, Jeong Cheol-won is ranked second in the bullpen with the most innings (19⅓ innings), following KIA Lim Ki-young (21⅔ innings).
Fortunately, the command tower also detected signs of abnormalities and came up with countermeasures after consulting with the coaching staff. It was a one-step retreat strategy for a two-step forward that he would manage until Jeong Cheol-won regained his condition. Director Lee said, “When Jeong Cheol-won shows a good performance, our bullpen becomes solid. Conversely, if Jeong Cheol-won collapses like the KIA match, it will be difficult. I have to take care of Jung Cheol-won so that he can find his condition.” First of all, Jeong Cheol-won had enough rest on the bench in the game against KIA in Jamsil on the 13th.
However, just because he is being managed does not mean that he will be excluded from the match situation for the time being. Jung Cheol-won has the sharpest pitch along with Hong Kun-hee in the Doosan bullpen. Director Lee said, “Jeong Cheol-won plays the most important role in our team. For him, finishing pitcher is important, but the process of becoming closer is also very important. Jung Cheol-won is playing that role very well,” revealing firm trust.